The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team learned plenty about next year's team after competing in the Spring Fever Volleyball tournament at Cougar Palace Saturday.
The Cougars, along with four NCAA Division I schools, participated in a round-robin series of competition. While no winners were declared, the Cougars finished the competition with a 6-6 record in games played, and fared quite well against the NCAA national tournament qualifiers Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado.
"I think we did a really good job today," WNCC coach Giovana Melo said. "We played really hard the entire day. We ran out of gas a little bit at the end, but overall we did a very good job.
"All the teams here were very good and nobody expected us to do as well as we did against those teams. It shows that we do have the players. We have players that when they leave here they go on to play at Division I schools."
Brooke Blomenkamp, who along with Whitney Roth played their final game not only at Cougar Palace but the Twin Cities, said this team put up a fight against the NCAA powerhouses.
"There were some tough teams and I think we competed really well," she said. "I am really happy with how we performed. I think we came out and showed what a junior college can do. We just played really good volleyball today. I think we did awesome."
WNCC finished the tournament winning six of the 12 games played. The tournament consisted of each match playing three games no matter what. In the team's opening contest against Creighton and former Cougar Nayka Benitez, the Cougars won the first game 25-19, before falling in the next two 25-15, 25-23.
They also captured the first games in the matches against Colorado State and Northern Colorado, before dropping the final two games. Both schools competed in the NCAA national tournament last December. Against the Rams, who lost their setter with an ankle injury in the first match of the tourney and was using their top outside hitter as a setter, the Cougars beat the Mountain West team 27-25 before falling 25-22, 25-23.
Against the Bears, the Cougars won the opening game 27-25, before falling 25-19, 25-15 in the final two games.
WNCC did claim all three games from the Air Force Academy 27-25, 25-16, 25-23.
Blomenkamp said it was huge that they stayed with a team the caliber of Colorado State.
"I thought that was huge to take the first game from the schools," she said. "They all are big schools and I was just watching CSU warm up and I was like, 'they are a big team.' I wish we could have stayed through all three games, but we did a really good job."
Melo said she not only pleased about taking the opening games in all four matches, but was more happy with her team for coming out ready to play.
"I am very happy with how we played against them," she said. "I am just not happy about taking a game from them, what I was very pleased about was the way they played and the way they came out. One thing that we talked about was playing for every point and playing hard to get better. That is what they did. it really didn't matter to me what the results were. They played really hard and they played to get better."
The purpose of the spring season for all volleyball squads is not wins or losses, but to see what the team will look like in the fall season. Melo said she saw good things from the freshmen on the court.
"I saw really good things from the freshmen for next year, and actually, I think we will have a really good team," she said. "We have a lot of talent, but we need a couple of them to step up a little bit more to be leaders."
Melo said while there is plenty of talent coming back, it was also a sad time because it is the last time she will coach the sophomores.
"it is a little bit sad, but I am happy that they are moving on and going someplace else," she said. "What makes is especially sad is because you see them grow and mature, and leaving here 10 times better then what they came in as not only players, but people. That is what I like the most about when they leave. I really wish I had them all four years, but unfortunately I can't. i wish I had the ability to make this a four-year school."
Tournament Results
Game one -- Creighton 2-1 over WNCC 19-25, 25-15, 25-23
Game two -- Colorado State 3-0 over Creighton 25-14, 25-20, 25-14;
Game three -- Northern Colorado 3-0 over Air Force Academy 25-21, 25-17, 25-17
Game four -- Colorado State 3-0 over Northern Colorado 25-20, 25-15, 25-20
Game five -- WNCC 3-0 over Air Force 27-25, 25-16, 25-23
Game six -- Colorado State 2-1 over WNCC 25-27, 25-22, 25-23
Game seven -- Creighton 2-1 over Northern Colorado 21-25, 25-20, 25-22
Game eight -- Creighton 3-0 over Air Force 25-13, 25-11, 25-17
Game nine -- Northern Colorado 2-1 over WNCC 25-27, 25-19, 25-15
Game 10 -- Colorado State 3-0 over Air Force 25-22, 26-24, 25-12
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